What Is on the DC Ballot on Tuesday: a New Mayor, the Council Chairmanship, Two At-Large Seats, a Delegate and Initiative 86
Three candidates are running to succeed Mayor Muriel Bowser. Below that race sit the Council chairman, two at-large seats, four ward races, the delegate contest between Robert White, Denise Rosado and Kymone Freeman, Attorney General Brian Schwalb's reelection bid - and a ballot initiative on foie gras.
District voters go to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new mayor for the first time in 12 years and a new delegate for the first time in 35 - and the ballot below those two races is long. Three candidates are running to succeed Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is not seeking a fourth term: Janeese Lewis George, the Democrat; Rhonda Hamilton, running as an independent; and Robert L. Gross of the DC Statehood Green Party. The winner leads the District government Bowser has run since 2015.
The Council races start at the top: Chairman Phil Mendelson, the Democratic incumbent, faces Republican Abi-Ananiah Prudent for the chairmanship of the 13-member Council, which passes local laws, approves the District's budget and oversees city agencies. Two at-large seats representing the whole District are up, with four candidates - Oye Owolewa (Democrat), Elissa Silverman (independent), Darrell Green (Republican) and Darryl Moch (Green Party). Four wards elect their own members: Ward 1 (Aparna Raj, Jett Jasper, Ryan Prince and Jude Crannitch), Ward 3 (Matthew Frumin, running unopposed), Ward 5 (Zachary Parker, Jeffrey Kihien-Palza and Joyce Robinson-Paul) and Ward 6 (Charles Allen and Jorge Rice).
The federal side of the ballot is the District's distinctive one. For nonvoting delegate to the US House, voters choose among Robert White (Democrat), Denise Rosado (Republican) and Kymone Freeman (Green Party). The shadow seats - officials who advocate for DC statehood without holding voting seats in Congress - pit Paul Strauss against Robert Simmons for shadow senator and Franklin Garcia against Ciprian Ivanof for shadow representative. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, the District's chief legal officer, seeks reelection against Republican Manuel Rivera. Residents of Wards 1, 3, 5 and 6 also elect State Board of Education members, every neighborhood elects its Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, and the ballot ends with Initiative 86, the Prohibiting Force-Feeding of Birds Act of 2026, which would ban force-feeding birds to enlarge their livers and prohibit the sale of products made through the practice, including foie gras - a yes vote supports the restrictions, a no vote opposes them.
